Hornish Jr. overcomes Penske’s pit stall gaffe

INDIANAPOLIS – Big surprise: Roger Penske made a mistake. Not such a big surprise: He won the Indianapolis 500 anyway.

Indy’s most successful owner made an error that could have cost himself and Sam Hornish Jr. the race Sunday. But he made up for it with some good strategy and coaching to coax his driver to victory over Marco and Michael Andretti.

The star-crossed Andretti family fell to 1 for 54 at The Greatest Spectacle In Racing. Penske? He won for the 14th time.

“It was certainly my mistake,” Penske said of the error on lap 150 that sent Hornish from first to eighth and set up his dramatic climb back to the top.

The folks at Penske Racing have always prided themselves on being on the cutting edge. They are one of the few teams who use radio communication to coach their drivers in and out of pit road.

During a caution on lap 150, Penske was hoping – as all teams do – to keep things moving and he started yelling “Go! Go! Go!” through the radio to Hornish before the fuel nozzle had been removed from the car.

Over the next few ugly seconds, chaos ensued. As he pulled out, Hornish knocked down a pit-crew worker, who fell to the ground and had to be doused with water. Then Penske ordered his driver to stop while the crew got the nozzle out of the fuel tank.

“First I tell him ‘Go! Go! Go!’ Then I tell him to stop,” Penske said. “It was completely my fault.”

The IRL penalized Hornish for leaving his pit box with equipment still attached, ordering him to make a 60 mph drive through the pits when the green flag came out. Then came Penske’s stroke of brilliance: With the caution still in effect, he decided to bring Hornish back into the pits to top off his fuel.

It was that decision that helped Hornish avoid a later pit stop, and that, in turn, helped him get in position to pass the Andrettis for the victory.